Shameless Self Promotion

If you look over in my “Blog Roll” you’ll see a lovely blog entitled “S.A.H.M. I Am!”.    In case you’ve ever wondered about it, let me just clarify.  It is my “non-homeschooling, everyday life” blog. 

Since I have more followers here than there, I thought I’d mention it.  Who knows, you may want to go check it out.  This last week I posted a couple of yummy recipes.  Sweet Pickle Relish might come in handy for those of you with an over abundance of cucumbers in your garden.

Some of my posts are funny.   Some are thought provoking.  Some are rants.    If you get a spare moment, pop over and take a look around, you may see something you like!

Ballet Camp and VBS

This week was Little Princess Ballet Camp for Lindsey.  She had so much fun going to ballet every morning, for two hours!   Each day they focused on a new Disney Princess and did dance, songs, stories and crafts to go along with the Princess of the day.   The camp is for girls age 3-6, so there’s a pretty good assortment of ages and stages. 

On the last day of Princess Camp, the kids did a 15 minute presentation.   They were just too cute!  They divided the girls by age, 3&4’s together and then 5&6’s.   Lindsey was placed in the 5&6 group and she did really well.

In the evenings, both girls have been attending VBS (vacations Bible school) at the church where they go to Awana.   I LOVE the program!!  They are using “Answers in Genesis The Egypt File”

The scenery that the church did for the skits was really awesome!  I love to see a church that is willing to invest time, money and resources into children!   Each child also had the option of getting one of these awesome t-shirts as well!

After the final program, we went out to the church playground and spent about an hour playing with friends.

 While the girls were at VBS each night, I worked in the gardens, worked on lesson plans and enjoyed some quiet, alone time!

Here are a few of the pretties from my garden this week.

I hope everyone else had a fun week.  I know the girls enjoyed themselves a great deal this week, and so did I!   Visit the Weekly Wrap Up to check on everyone else!

Summer School Plans

The girls are getting antsy, Olivia is actually asking for school work!  So next week, we’ll start on a modified schedule (which I should be working on now instead of posting here)…ahem.

Since we we’re starting First Language Lessons now, instead of in 1st grade, I have some catching up to do.  I’ll have to wing it, to see how quickly we can move, hopefully be where we need to be by the start of the “new school year”.   I think Olivia should be able to grasp the information pretty well, especially since we aren’t doing a full load of work each day.

We’ll be starting on our 2nd grade Abeka mathematic. We’ll be moving pretty quickly during the summer, trying to cover the first 6 weeks at least.

I’m also planning to pick back up in our Grapevine Studies, New Testament Overview.   The girls LOVE this product and we put it aside to focus on Awana during the fall.  It’s just the thing for lazy days of summer though!

With Lindsey, I’m going to start her on the Abeka K5 program for math, phonics and writing.  I’d originally planned to go with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but after looking at it more closely, I think it would confuse her since she’s already reading.  

During this last school year I focused more on Olivia than I did on Lindsey.  Now that Olivia is a lot more independent in her studies, I want to focus in on Lindsey.

So my plan, is to work on Bible, math, reading and writing for the summer, with a lot of fun thrown in to the mix.  

Scrap Frenzy

The last year was over busy, over committed, over worked and I don’t think any of us enjoyed it much.  So now that I’ve quit working, finished my tour on  the TOS Review Crew, dropped co-op and dropped a few other activities I’m finding I have time for life again.

Recently, I had the startling realization that I hadn’t worked on scrapbooking in over a year.  This may not be bad for some, but for a chronological scrapper with OCD tendencies, this was serious!

So, I took advantage of Olivia’s recovery time and attacked my delinquent pile.  In a total of 4 days of scrapping, I completed 49 12X12 layouts, and managed to get caught up.  Well, except for the photos that arrived in today’s mail.

Anyway, if you don’t scrap you may wonder what does a scrap frenzy look like??   Well, here is what the aftermath looks like…documented in photos, just for you!

    As messy as it is, as crazy as it sounds, it gave me one more thing to check off the “to-do list”, and THAT made me very happy.  Interested in reading what others do for fun? (Really, it was fun!)  Check out Time For Mom hosted by Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Clean Up on Aisle 7!

Olivia continues to grow stronger each day.  I think the virus she picked up did her far worse than the surgeries.  We had another low key week to make sure not to have any relapses.  Thanks again for those of you who have prayed for her recovery.

Spring cleaning got a late start around here!  It’s technically still spring…but I’m running out of time fast.  This week I focused on cleaning our sunporch, the master bedroom and both bathrooms thouroughly. The family room/classroom is next on my agenda!!

During the hot parts of the day, and the late nights I went into scrap frenzy mode.  I realized I hadn’t worked on any scrapbooking for over a year!  So, I managed to whip out 49 12X12 layouts over a couple of days and now we’re once again current.  Well, I had to order photos, so I’m current as far as the photos in my house!

Monday, our local library had the kickoff for the summer reading program.  My husband took the girls over to sign up while I cleaned.  I found it interesting that I sent them to sign up for the READING program…and they came home with 4 videos, 2 DVD’s and the registration packs…no books.   Sigh… Thankfully, I have a well stocked bookcase, so I picked out a pile of reading materials.

Olivia is apparently feeling much better (or is really bored).  On Wednesday she asked if we could start doing school again.  Yeeep, that’s what I like to hear!   So I’m thinking next week we’ll start working on some math for grins and giggles!

Seriously, that is pretty much our week.  I’ve got a lot cleaning, organizing and catching up accomplished around the house.  We’ve spent a lot of time reading together, resting and talking.   Just being a family!

Don’t forget to visit the Weekly Wrap Up for this week!

Field Trips and Hospital Visits

We started off our week with a fun field trip to a local zoo and reptile center.  The most interesting thing we learned is that Olivia is terrified of snakes!!  Yeah…too bad you had to walk THROUGH the reptiles to get in and OUT of the zoo!   You can read more about our trip and see some photos here.

Tuesday was Olivia’s big day for her surgery.  Tonsils and adenoids came out, ear tubes went in and we were in and out in 5 hours.  Olivia did really well.  Thanks so much to everyone who lifted her up in prayer this week!

She was just a little bit on the groggy side here.  (Ok, who am I kidding she’s stoned out of her gourd.)

Amazing what cable TV will do for a child's recovery time.  I think she’d have stayed overnight just for this!

Unfortunately, we were in the ER in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday.  Olivia woke up vomiting and with a fever of 106.3 (I kid you not).   We checked it several times because seriously, that couldn’t be right, could it?  After 40 minutes in the bathtub in cool water it was still 105.  So we called the doctor who did her surgery and he met us at the ER.  No sign of infection, they even checked for meningitis.  So they decided “it’s a virus it will pass” and sent her home.   The ER doctor was very….indifferent, which tweaks me greatly.    I mean really, how often do you see a kid with a fever of 106??

Our mealworms are continuing along their metamorphosis.  This week we had about 12 to from the larvae state to the pupae state.  (Just when you think they couldn’t be any creepier…shudder.)

Olivia spent all day Thursday and Friday on the sofa under a blanket watching movies.  Lindsey busied herself being the caretaker.   Since all my scrap crap is in the family room, by the couch and TV, I decided to get caught up on the girls scrapbooks.  Imagine my amazement when I realized I haven’t scrapped in over a year!!

In 4 hours, I’ve completed 16 12X12 layouts…and I’m not even through last summer!!  This could take a while!

Be sure to stop by the Weekly Wrap Up this week!

Zoo Life

We’re getting a lot more field trips in now that school is out!  This week we took the opportunity to visit a local zoo and reptile center.  One of the things we learned, is that Olivia is TERRIFIED of snakes.  Too bad we had to walk through the reptile area to get to the zoo animals…and again to exit.

Once we finished dragging Olivia through the reptiles (literally dragging her), we found lots of wonderful animals! 

Let me introduce Webster, the emu:

The alligators were huge…and boring.  They sit, and blink.

I was surprised that the yaks were part of the petting zoo.  They seemed rather content though.

My favorite animal was Star, the Bengal tiger.  She is amazing!  Apparently one visit to the zoo was teasing her while we were there and she let out a “warning growl” that truly makes the hair stand up on the back of the neck!

  Lindsey enjoyed the Lemurs a great deal.  I guess because they are closer to her size, and one resembled her a little bit.

  This particular zoo houses monkeys, wallabies condors, owls, wallabies, a camel, a bobcat, lynx and the biggest porcupine I’ve ever seen!

If you’re one of my local readers, and you’re looking for a fun trip that is within an hour or less you might want to check this one out!

Hmmmm….

This week wrapped up ballet lessons for both girls. Olivia’s last ball game is tomorrow morning and then she’s finished up for the season.

Wednesday Olivia had her pre-surgery hearing test.  She’s lost 25 decibels of hearing in her right ear, and 15 in her left.  Surgery is scheduled for June 8 at 7:30am.  The doctor is pretty certain her hearing will return to normal almost immediately.

Today I set up shop at the local used curriculum sale.  It only lasted 2 hours, and I only sold $18 worth of items.   I guess it’s time to post on Craigs List!

We used the “Magic Rock” kit this week for grins and giggles.  I followed the directions (gosh that stuff must be dangerous), but something went wrong.  They looked good at first..then Olivia finally asked “Why are the rocks fuzzy?”…and yes, that’s a pretty good description of them.  Fuzzy…eew.

 

We finished up a few reading projects as well.  Other than that, I spent most of my week cleaning house, gardening and doing stuff outside with the kids.  (It’s great to be unemployed again!)

Be sure to stop by the Weekly Wrap Up for this week.

The Winner Is…

 

Tim from Families Again is the winner of the Family Mission Statement from Engage Family!  Again, I used the antiquated method of “hey honey pick a number” to pick the winner.

Congratulations Tim!  Thanks to everyone who entered!